The next morning, as Star and Piper were getting ready to leave, Jax approached. “I hope you ladies don’t mind if I tag along, at least part way. I’m headed for the Ranger’s lodge at Golden Oaks. It’s just a short side trip off the main trail to Falling Waters.”
“I think we can put up with you for a little bit,” Piper grinned.
“You’re not going to slow us down, are you?” Star joked.
“I’ll try my best to keep up,” Jax replied, faking a limp.
With packs on their backs, the three headed out.
~~~
A while later, the four remaining cats in the village gathered at Isis’s cabin.
“What the heck,” Suki said. “All the grown-ups are gone, and they left us kids all by ourselves.”
“Who knows what mischief we could get into,” she added with a grin.
“Things have sure changed in the last few months,” Shaun said.
“I’ll say,” Tam added. “They didn’t dare let the two of us out of their sight back then.”
“Well, for me, I didn’t get into much trouble,” Kikki said. “Of course, we were all trying our best not to starve at the time,” she added, a little sadly.
“Well, maybe it’s time to have a little fun,” Suki said. “Anybody have any ideas?”
They all thought for a few minutes, then Shaun spoke up. “Good grief, don’t tell me we’ve become responsible.”
“No, that can’t be it,” Kikki replied. “Maybe we’re just out of practice.”
“Okay then, what if we take a day trip and visit the Hidden Village?” Tam said.
“Are you sure we should leave the village with nobody here?” Suki asked.
“Sure, what could possibly go wrong?” Shaun said with a grin.
“Leave a note saying where we’re going and when we should be back,” Kikki said.
“I’ll go pack us a lunch and write the note,” Suki said, entering the cabin. “We should be back before dark.”
“I’ll grab a couple of digging tools to take with us,” Tam said, heading for the tool shed.
It was a sunny morning, and the four youngsters had a nice time walking up to the now marked trail that led to the Hidden Village. Following the trail, they soon found themselves standing at the edge of what had once been a living village.
“Jax said the center of the village was where they’d been searching,” Suki said as the others joined her. “Let’s start there.”
As they walked to the center of the area, they could see what Jax and Piper had mentioned about the various types of vegetation. Following what seemed to be pathways, they soon found the center of the village.
“See there,” Suki said, pointing, “That looks like where the main building stood. And those patches would be where smaller buildings stood on either side. The area in front of the main building seems to be empty.”
“From the markers,” Shaun said, “it looks like they did most of their searching where the main building was.”
“Why don’t we do our searching where the smaller buildings stood?”
“Fine,” Kikki said. “Tam and I will take the ones on the right, and you two can take the ones on the left.”
“Be sure to place markers if you find anything,” Tam said, holding one of the digging tools.
“Okay, let the games begin,” Suki said.
“Oh, so this is a competition?” Kikki said, a playful grin spreading across her face.
“Challenge accepted.”
Kikki and Tam headed for a likely spot. Suki and Shaun did the same. First, they cleared the brush, then they began their search. After a while, finding nothing, they were beginning to get discouraged.
Suddenly, Kikki let out a shout. “Tam, I found something!”
“What have you got?” Tam said as he walked over to where Kikki was digging in the dirt.
“I’m not sure, but it’s not natural. It looks like the chiseled edge of a rock,” Kikki said. “Help me dig it out.”
“Go slow,” Tam said. “We don’t know what else might be buried here.”
Digging carefully, they slowly revealed a large slab of stone with a design carved in the center.
“Isn’t this the same design that was on one of the ovals Jax and Star found?” Kikki asked, brushing more dirt away.
“You’re right,” Tam said in a quiet, wondering voice. “It’s the Ax and Knife of Cisco’s badge.”
With the dirt cleared, they tried to lift the slab, but couldn’t budge it.
“We need some help over here,” Kikki called to Shaun and Suki.
“Sure, we’re not doing much good here,” Suki replied.
The four cats managed to lift the slab and move it to one side. They could see the slab was the top of a large stone box. Inside the stone box was another box, this one made of some sort of wood. It looked to be in excellent condition and had a shiny, lustrous finish.
“Well, that’s something,” Tam said. “I wonder what’s in the box.”
“Something important, I’m thinking,” Suki said, her eyes gleaming with anticipation.
“How are we going to get it back to Flower Village?”
“Even if we dig out around the stone box, I don’t think we could move it,” Kikki said. “It took everything we had just to move the top slab.”
“Maybe if we each take a corner, we can lift the wooden box out,” Tam suggested.
Try as they might, they couldn’t get a good enough hold to lift the box.
“Well, that didn’t work,” Tam said. “I think using some rope, we can get it out.”
“I don’t suppose anyone thought to bring some rope,” Kikki said.
“Digging around in the dirt doesn’t usually suggest the need for rope,” Shaun replied.
“We’ve got plenty of rope back at the village,” Tam said. “I’ll go get it. I shouldn’t be too long.”
“Thanks, Tam,” Kikki said. “We’ll do more scratching around until you get back.”
Tam took off to get the rope, and the other cats started their search for more artifacts. They decided to just randomly pick one of the smaller sites around the main building.
Suki closed her eyes, spun around, and pointed. “Okay, let’s dig there,” she said.
“Well, we did say random,” Shaun said. “Let’s get that big bush out of the way.”
With some digging and a lot of tugging, they managed to drag the bush, roots and all, out of the ground. They were surprised to find something tangled in the roots.
“What the heck is that?” Suki asked.
“It looks like leather,” Shaun said, bending down to pull the roots apart. “It’s leather, alright.”
He untangled it and spread it out on the ground.
“It looks like something you’d wear,” Kikki said. “Some sort of harness.”
“See how the straps cross in the back and the front, then attach to the belt?”
“Oh, and look at this!” she said excitedly. “Where the straps cross in the front, there’s a circle of leather with some sort of medallion attached.”
“Well now, isn’t that something,” she said, brushing dirt away. “It looks like another one of those badges.”
“Yep, that’s a shield with a flower on it,” Shaun said. “Just like the badge that Jax claimed.”
“Let’s mark the spot and see what else we can find,” Suki said.
They cleared more brush and searched around, but didn’t find anything else.
After a while, Tam returned with a good-sized coil of rope. “So, did you guys have a good nap while I was gone?” he joked.
“Not even close,” Kikki said. “Look what we found.”
“Wow, you were busy,” he said, examining the leather harness. “That’s quite a find.”
“Shall we try to get that box out of the ground?” Shaun said.
“Put this in your pack so we don’t forget it,” Tam said, handing Kikki the harness.
“Okay, now if we tie the rope in a weave pattern,” Tam said, showing them what he meant, “when we slip it around the box, it should tighten as we pull up.”
Tam quickly tied the rope in the pattern he had in mind, and they lowered it around the wooden box. With everyone in place with firm grips on the rope, Tam said, “Okay, on the count of three. One, two, three, lift!”
The box lifted smoothly straight up. When it was clear of the stone box, the four cats walked it away from the hole and set it down.
“That wasn’t as heavy as I thought it’d be,” Shaun said. “I think if we rig it to carry, we can get it back home.”
They found a couple of pieces of deadwood that they tied to each end of the box so everyone had a comfortable handhold. It wasn’t light as a feather, but they thought they could manage it.
“Before we go, we should put the top back on the stone box and cover it up,” Tam said. “It’s never a good idea to leave holes around for people to stumble into.”
With an effort, they moved the slab back into place and covered it with dirt. Then Suki placed a marker on the spot.
Getting the box down the narrow path was a bit of a chore, but once they got to the main trail, it was easy going.
As they carried the box along the trail, Kikki said, “This has all been fun, but what are we going to do with this thing when we get it home?”
After a moment’s thought, Tam said, “The only real choice is to leave it in Isis’s cabin for now.”
Finally arriving back at the village, Suki stated, “Let’s get this box put away and get something to eat; I’m starving.”
“Alright then, into the cabin it goes,” Shaun said, helping to guide the box inside.
“I don’t know about you guys,” Kikki said, “but now that we’ve got the box in the cabin, I just want a quick meal, and then I’m calling it a night. I’m worn out.”
“I don’t think you’ll get an argument from any of us on that,” Tam said.